Another fine season of varsity softball in Central Jersey is in the books, and this one had it all.

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New Providence junior ace Cassandra Squeri was a big part of the Pioneers' unlikely run to the Union County Tournament final

We had sectional, county and conference championships, and we had inspired runs, like New Providence shocking Union County and going to its first-ever county final and Franklin shaking off two decades of futility to re-remerge as a Somerset-County contender.

We had new coaches making a splash, like Holly Abitz at South Hunterdon, and we had veteran coaches like Hunterdon Central’s Pete Fick showing his best days are clearly not behind him.

There were astounding individual moments, breathtaking team performances and upsets for the ages, as well as games and moments that will go down in the annals of local softball lore.

Here’s a look back at 2012 and the players and teams that made it such a memorable season.

HERE’S TO THE WINNERSSeven local teams took home championships in 2012, including one squad – Governor Livingston – that won two titles.The Highlanders captured the Union County Conference Watchung Division crown for the second straight season, as well as repeating as Union County Tournament champions with a 9-2 victory over New Providence in the final.Hunterdon Central was the only local team to win a state sectional crown, as the fifth-seeded Red Devils topped No. 2 seed North Hunterdon 7-2 in the North 2 Group IV final, and Watchung Hills won its first Somerset County Tournament championship in a decade when the Warriors toppled top-seeded and two-time defending champ Hillsborough 2-0.

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The 2012 co-Skyland Conferfence Valley Division champion South Hunterdon High School softball team

But the Raiders certainly weren’t shutout of the hardware, as they took home the Skyland Conference Delaware Division title, while Voorhees shared the Raritan Division championship with Warren Hills, and South Hunterdon finished in a three-way tie for the Valley Division title with Belvidere and North Warren.Middlesex County was also represented by a Courier News-area team, as Wardlaw-Hartridge won the GMC Gold Division championship, just two years removed from a 3-14 season.

TEAM OF THE YEARAfter winning the Group IV state championship in 2011 and then graduating four starters, including ace Courtney Yard and losing another to a year-ending injury during basketball season, expectations were down at Hunterdon Central.But that didn’t stop the Red Devils from making a return trip to Toms River and the state final, as Central finished 22-9 and won its seventh sectional championship since 1998. The Red Devils also came within a nine-inning pitcher’s duel with North Hunterdon from returning to the county final for the 18th time in the past 19 years, and came within two games of claiming what would have been their 25th straight conference title.

ROOKIE OF THE YEARHillsborough sophomore catcher Alyssa Vanderveer burst onto the varsity scene in dramatic fashion and immediately got the attention of opposing coaches.The sophomore helped the Raiders to the Skyland Delaware championship and its 10th trip to the Somerset County final in 11 seasons. Vanderveer hit .457 with five doubles and 10 homers, which tied her for tops in the area. She also scored 16 runs and posted 32 RBIs.

GAME OF THE YEARFrom a perspective of sheer excitement and drama, and when you consider what was on the line, it’s hard to top the May 12 meeting between third-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan and second-seeded Watchung Hills in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals in Warren.The game featured 10 innings, 17 runs, 24 hits and six lead changes, culminating in the bottom of the 10th inning on a clutch RBI single by senior Tina Scolaro to tie it and then a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by freshman Gina Priore to plate Stephanie Huff with the game-winner, as Watchung Hills claimed a 9-8 victory.After going back and forth for six innings, Bridgewater-Raritan had taken a 7-5 lead in the top of the seventh with three runs, before the Warriors forced extra innings with two in the bottom of the frame.

COMEBACK OF THE YEARWhile Watchung Hills and Bridgewater-Raritan were lighting up the scoreboard in one county semifinal, Hillsborough and Somerville were staging some drama of their own about 20 miles to the southwest in the other game with a championship-game berth up for grabs.Fourth-seeded Somerville took a 2-0 lead when Tori Triozzi led off the game with a home run, and she added an RBI single in the third, before Ashley Lamont’s homer cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the frame.With Pioneers ace Amanda Carisone cruising, it appeared as if Somerville was about to pull off an upset for the ages and advance to its first county final since 1996.But there’s a reason why Hillsborough is the juggernaut that it is, as the Raiders took advantage of two Somerville errors in the fifth inning and claimed a 3-2 victory.

DUEL OF THE YEARWhile the drama was high in Somerset County, May 12 held plenty of heart-stopping action in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament semifinals, as well, as North Hunterdon and Hunterdon Central got together in Raritan Township.What ensued was a dynamic pitcher’s duel between North Hunterdon sophomore Mason Spichiger and Hunterdon Central junior Kaitlyn Cegielski, as the pair matched zeros for eight innings.In the top of the ninth, North Hunterdon finally broke through on an RBI single by Jen Smith that plated Carly Severini, and the Lions held on to advance to the final with a 1-0 victory.Spichiger finished with a four-hit shutout, walking two and striking out four, while Cegielski allowed a run on just six hits, walked one and fanned two.

HIT OF THE YEARWhile there were plenty of clutch hits in big spots this season, perhaps no big knock came in with more on the line than when Governor Livingston’s Jenna Kulback came to bat in the seventh inning of the Union County Tournament quarterfinals on May 11 in Linden.With top-seeded and defending champion Highlanders trailing by a run to ninth-seeded upstart Brearley, Kulback came up with two outs and the bases empty and fell behind two strikes to Bears ace Melissa Stryker, who had already walked the GL slugger twice in the game by pitching her strictly off the outside of the plate. This time, with the Highlanders’ tournament life on the line, Kulback wasn’t looking for the free pass, as she took an outside pitch and drove it the other way, up and over the right-field fence at Memorial Field for a game-tying homer.Governor Livingston won the game in the eighth inning and captured the championship the following weekend.

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Watchung Hills junior right-hander Abby Cline was named MVP of the Somerset County Tournament

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEARWatchung Hills junior right-hander Abby Cline had her problems against the vaunted Hillsborough offense during her two seasons as a varsity hurler as she and the Warriors entered the Somerset County Tournament final on May 19.Having already lost to the Raiders twice during regular-season play, including a 14-3 thrashing 11 days earlier, the popular consensus among observers was that the two-time defending champs wouldn’t have much trouble with Cline at Torpey Field that night.But it was Watchung Hills that had the last laugh, as Cline turned in what has been her finest varsity performance, to date, firing a six-hit shutout, walking one and striking out five to deliver the Warriors first county championship since 2002.

FEEL-GOOD STORY OF THE YEARThe Franklin High School softball team has spent the better part of the past two decades getting beat up on a regular basis, often in overly lopsided fashion.But with the appointment of coach Melissa Vaccaro in 2009 and the arrival of players like center fielder Salonika Muhammed the following season, things started to perk up at Franklin, and the Warriors won four games in 2011, the first time they’d won more than two in a year since 2004.Freshman pitcher Sara Smith arrived this season giving Franklin its first above average pitcher in at least 15 years, and along with other new faces, like sophomore shortstop Amanda Jordan, the Warriors went to the county quarterfinals for the first time in nearly 20 years, and finished the season with a record of 10-12, which is twice as many wins as in any one season in that same span.

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Senior first baseman Kim Englehart was a huge part of Hunterdon Central getting back to the Group IV final

QUOTE OF THE YEARFacing the prospect of losing the head-coaching job he’s held for the past 38 seasons to the bureaucracy at Hunterdon Central, the always understated Pete Fick tried to put things in perspective after his team’s 2-0 loss to Eastern in the Group IV state final.It’s safe to say the overwhelming majority in the softball community hope Fick’s words prove prophetic.“This is not the first game we’ve lost at Hunterdon Central,” Fick said. “And it won’t be the last.”

2012 FINAL SOFTBALL TOP 10

1. Hunterdon Central (22-9): Won North 2 Group IV sectional title and went to state final for second straight season2. North Hunterdon (25-7): Came within one game of winning Skyland Delaware championship and went to the finals of the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex and North 2 Group IV tournaments.3. Hillsborough (22-5): Went to the final of the Somerset County Tournament for the 10th time in 11 seasons and captured the championship of the Skyland Conference Delaware Division.4. Governor Livingston (22-3): Won the Union County Tournament and captured the Union County Conference Watchung Division title.5. Watchung Hills (16-7): Won the program’s first Somerset County Tournament championship in a decade.6. South Plainfield (21-7): Won 20 or more games for the eighth time in nine seasons.

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Voorhees first baseman Tori Sansone helped lead Voorhees to the co-championship of the Skyland Raritan and place in the final Top 10

7. Voorhees (18-4): Shared the Skyland Conference Raritan Division championship with Warren Hills.8. Delaware Valley (20-7): Won 20 or more games for the third time in the past four years.9. New Providence (15-6): Went to the North 2 Group I final for the second straight year and advanced to the program’s first-ever Union County Tournament final.10. Gill St. Bernard’s (17-9): Went to the program’s first-ever sectional final, Non-Public South A